Interesting stuff happening in the Bay State’s GOP primary race to fill John Kerry’s Senate seat. As you may recall: Venture capitalist and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez, trailing former U.S. Attorney and ATF chief Michael Sullivan, wrote a now-infamous letter to Deval Patrick in January asking the Democrat Governor to appoint him “as the interim replacement” for Kerry. Some highlights:

I supported President Obama in 2008. I strongly believe this appointment would be good for the Democrats as well since it is in everyone’s interest to have two parties at the table negotiating. . . . Two main issues that will dominate the political discussion during this appointment will be Immigration Reform and Gun Control. Given my Latino and Navy SEAL background, I have credibility to contribute thoughtfully on these issues. I support the positions that President Obama has taken on these issues and you can be assured I will keep my word and work on these issues as I have promised.

A fiasco from the salutation to the signature, it doesn’t take MENSA membership to conclude why the Gomez plea would backfire on a Republican primary candidate. Or to understand why Sullivan is repeatedly raising the screw-up, now the subject of a new TV spot:

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Peeved by the criticisms, two weeks ago Gomez demanded that Sullivan “man up” and confront him about the letter. Boston talk-radio legend Howie Carr was quick to provide the forum on his influential WRKO program, and this Monday the two met for “The Great Man Up Debate” (the third GOP candidate, state representative Dan Winslow, could not participate).

It wasn’t a knock-out, but when the debate ended, the Man Up was Sullivan. He clearly got the better of Gomez, who either contradicted a lot of what he wrote in his Patrick letter, or, when he wasn’t flip-flopping, refused to explain himself. Of particular embarrassment: Carr asked several times for an example of his letter’s over-the-top suck-up claim that Patrick had a “growing national reputation for bold and thoughtful leadership.” Gomez repeatedly could only fluster that he was “a Navy man” and “not a career politician,” and that in hindsight “would have used different words.” Not pretty.

Hey, don’t take my word on Sullivan’s win (after all, I support him): Listen to the debate yourself (or read the Springfield Republican’s detailed report).

All in all, it was great political theater. And it should be the last time Gomez publicly asks anyone to “man up.”